Introduction
Chapter 17 of Mishlei deals with interpersonal character traits and the inner examination of man. In this lesson, we will explore three verses: the virtue of wisdom that can elevate a servant above a son, the examination of the heart that only the Holy One, blessed be He, can perform, and the way a person is drawn after falsehood and deceit. We will follow the classical commentators - Rashi, Rabbeinu Yonah, the Vilna Gaon, and the Malbim - with the Malbim, as is his way, also weaving the verses together.
A Wise Servant Shall Rule Over a Disgraceful Son
עֶבֶד־מַשְׂכִּיל יִמְשֹׁל בְּבֵן מֵבִישׁ, וּבְתוֹךְ אַחִים יַחֲלֹק נַחֲלָה. - A wise servant shall rule over a disgraceful son, and among brothers he shall share the inheritance.
Rashi cites a Midrash of Chazal: Who is this wise servant? Nebuchadnezzar. Because he had the wisdom to take three steps in honor of the Holy One, blessed be He - when he saw that in the royal letter Chizkiyahu was mentioned before Hashem, he ran three steps and said: "No, bring back the letter and let us write it properly, in honor of Hashem, in honor of Chizkiyahu, in honor of Jerusalem." In that merit, he rose to greatness and ruled over Israel. And who is the "disgraceful son"? The Jewish people, whose deeds brought shame at the time of the destruction of the First Temple - idolatry, illicit relations, and bloodshed. "And among brothers he shall share the inheritance" - he apportioned their inheritance before their very eyes and destroyed the Beit HaMikdash.
Rashi brings another explanation: A righteous convert is better than a wicked native-born citizen, and in the future to come he will divide spoil and an inheritance among the Children of Israel, as it says, "And in whatever tribe the convert sojourns..." An ezrach is someone whose family has lived here for generations, while a ger is one who arrived from outside. If there is a righteous ger, he takes precedence over the established native citizen who is wicked. Even though one might say, "I hold a portion in this inheritance from my father and grandfather going back to Yehoshua and those who first inherited the land, while the convert has nothing," know that in the future the convert will divide an inheritance among the Children of Israel. Not only will a wise servant rule over a disgraceful son, but he will also share in the inheritance.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the verse comes to praise the virtue of intellect and to instruct a father to teach his son the way of wisdom and understanding. Without this, there is no real benefit in anything he bequeaths to him. You may bequeath him property, you may bequeath him money, but if you have not bequeathed him wisdom and discernment, you have bequeathed him nothing. For a wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son and divide an inheritance among brothers: if you have a disgraceful and foolish son, the wise servant - though he is merely a servant - will be able to overpower him, and at times even take over his estate. And so we see in reality: a person of wealth is approached by someone with no assets of his own, but shrewd and cunning, often employing deceptive methods, who within a short time dispossesses him of everything. He co-signs a loan, defaults, has assets seized, and within a short period all the wealth passes to him. Who is he? Merely a servant, perhaps an employee who worked for you - but he is astute, while you are in the status of a son, yet disgraceful.
The Vilna Gaon explains that one who is even a servant, provided he is wise, rules even over a son when the son is disgraceful, and he also shares in the inheritance among the brothers. What does this refer to? To three spiritual levels within the Jewish people. We are called servants - "For to Me the Children of Israel are servants," "Israel, you are My servant." We are called children - "You are children to Hashem your God." And we are called brothers - "For the sake of my brothers and companions."
The servant is the one who engages in prayer and mitzvot, like Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. As the Gemara notes: "I am like a minister before the King, while he is like a servant before the King" - a minister holds greater prestige but enters only occasionally, whereas a servant, though of lesser status, has constant access. So too, those who occupy themselves with prayer and mitzvot enter constantly before Hashem. The son is the one engaged with the King's royal treasuries of Torah, and the brothers are those who attain deep wisdom. Concerning this, the verse says: a wise servant - even one on the level of a servant engaged in prayer - will rule over one engaged in Torah study if the latter is disgraceful, meaning he does not engage in Torah on the proper level. He may even come to share an inheritance among the brothers - those who attain deep wisdom - reaching a stature higher than theirs. When does this happen? When that scholar does not learn Torah lishmah (for its own sake), does not learn in order to fulfill, and his Torah is flawed. In such a case, the servant can rule over him and surpass him in spiritual standing.
The Malbim explains: Do not imagine that wealth and property are entirely a matter of ancestral inheritance - where whoever inherited from his father possesses, and whoever did not inherit has nothing. Know that everything depends on hishtadlut (effort) and diligence. Even a servant, if he is wise, if he exerts effort and acts with alacrity, will rule over the disgraceful, sluggish, and lazy son, and when the master divides his estate, he will be treated like one of his sons.
Yet this should not be understood as though everything depends solely on effort and nothing is predetermined - that is certainly not true, for we know that a person's livelihood is decreed in advance. Rather, scripture states: "And He shall bless you in all that you do" - and Chazal derived: specifically that which you do. A person is commanded to take action and exert effort. If a blessing has been decreed for someone but he makes no effort to attain it, he will not receive it. On the other hand, if you exert effort beyond what is required, you will not receive anything extra, because ultimately one receives only what has been apportioned to him from Heaven. Yet to receive it, one must exert effort, as this is the penalty imposed upon mankind - in the words of the Ramchal - at the time of creation when Adam sinned: "By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread," with no shortcuts. The one who exerts effort will succeed, whereas the sluggard who says, "Everything is from Heaven, everything is already decreed," will receive nothing, because in order to receive what is apportioned to you from Heaven, you must make the effort. Thus, at times the diligent, active, and wise servant will rule over the disgraceful son who ostensibly had wealth from his father, and when the inheritance is divided, the servant will receive like one of the brothers, because he is wise and conducts his affairs properly.
The Allegory: The Wise Convert and the Disgraceful Israelite
In the deeper meaning (nimshal), the wise convert will surpass the shameful son of Israel. The Gemara recounts the story of Shemaya and Avtalyon meeting the Kohen Gadol. The Kohen Gadol saw a large group of Torah scholars accompanying them and showing them immense honor, whereas he did not have such a large entourage, so he stung them with his greeting: "May the descendants of the nations come in peace" - may the converts enter in peace. They replied to him: "May the descendants of the nations come in peace, for they do the deeds of Aharon, and may a descendant of Aharon not come in peace, for he does the deeds of the nations" - may the descendants of the nations who follow the ways of Aharon - loving peace, pursuing peace, loving people, and drawing them near to the Torah - come in peace; and may a descendant of Aharon who does not do the deeds of Aharon, but rather, sadly, acts like the gentiles, not come in peace.
From here we see that someone on the level of a servant - namely, the convert in your midst - can ascend higher and higher, while the shameful son - a member of the Jewish people, who may be a direct descendant of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, is nonetheless a shameful son. And they will share an inheritance among brothers. Do not think that because he is merely a servant, just a convert, he will not merit greatness. In the Future to Come, he will share an inheritance among the brothers, and even now: we are commanded to honor a mamzer who is a talmid chacham before an ignorant Kohen Gadol. Even though he is a mamzer and everyone knows it, if he is a talmid chacham, he takes precedence over an ignorant Kohen Gadol. And it is written that the descendants of Sisera taught Torah publicly, and the descendants of Haman studied Torah in Bnei Brak. Rav Ovadia Yosef once quipped that some are still there, and on some, you can still see it. In any case, we see from here the supreme virtue of one who engages in Torah.
A Refining Pot for Silver and a Furnace for Gold
מַצְרֵף לַכֶּסֶף וְכוּר לַזָּהָב, וּבֹחֵן לִבּוֹת ה' - A refining pot is for silver and a furnace is for gold, but Hashem tests the hearts.
מֵרַע מַקְשִׁיב עַל שְׂפַת אָוֶן, שֶׁקֶר מֵזִין עַל לְשׁוֹן הַוֺּת - An evildoer listens to iniquitous speech; falsehood heeds a destructive tongue.
Most commentators explain these two verses separately, but since the Malbim connects them, we have read them together.
Rashi explains what a refining pot (matzref) for silver is: a vessel in which silver is refined, made of burned ashes over earthenware, where the silver is smelted. And what is refining (tzerifah)? It always means separating the dross, as Scripture states: "And I will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested." To refine something means to purify and clarify it. "And a furnace (kur) for gold" - the vessel in which gold is refined is the crucible (kur), like a broken pot inside which an intensely hot fire is kindled, and the gold is placed within it. Each metal melts at a different temperature, allowing them to be separated: gold melts at a lower temperature than silver, and it is softer than iron. Thus, when the gold melts while the iron has not yet melted, one can refine and purify it.
"But Hashem tests the hearts" - we know how to refine silver, and we know how to smelt gold. There is only one thing we do not know how to do, which only the Master of the Universe knows: to refine and test human thoughts. Who tests what is in a person's heart? Only the Holy One, blessed be He. Who knows what a person truly thinks of his fellow? Only the Holy One, blessed be He. And it is written that this ability was not given even to the angels - human thoughts were not disclosed to the angels. When something is hidden in the heart, only the Holy One, blessed be He, purifies, tests, and refines it, distinguishing between evil thoughts and good thoughts, knowing what occupies a person's heart.
And regarding the significance of thoughts, as is well known from the teachings of the Chafetz Chaim: Who is a person? Wherever his thoughts are. If his thoughts are constantly on money, that is where the person is. If his thoughts are on Torah and fear of Hashem, that is where the person is. Wherever his thoughts reside, that is the person and that is his true form.
Rabbeinu Yonah: Hashem Weighs Everything
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that just as a refiner separates the dross from silver and gold, Hashem tests the hearts - the character traits of the heart and its thoughts. He adds: with the Holy One, blessed be He, not a single one escapes His scrutiny. Hashem tests everything, every shred of thought and the slightest musing of the heart, weighing the bad in its entirety against the good. Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, judges a person with ultimate justice and fairness. For it is possible that two people did the exact same deed, yet Hashem assigns a severe punishment to one and a slight punishment to the other. And it is possible that both performed the exact same mitzvah, yet He grants one a great reward and the other a small reward. Why? Because Hashem tests the hearts: what purity of heart he had, how much intention for the sake of Heaven, how much desire to do the will of Hashem. The other may have intended to gain fame, make an impression, and receive praise from those around him. Certainly, that too is a mitzvah, and Hashem does not withhold the reward of any creature, but Hashem tests the hearts and nothing escapes His scrutiny - He knows precisely the measure of good thought and the measure of negative thought, and He judges the person accordingly.
Rabbeinu Yonah further says: a person's stature corresponds to the stature of his heart in its traits and thoughts, similar to what we mentioned in the name of the Chafetz Chaim, and as Chazal stated, "The Merciful One desires the heart" - the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks the heart. The main thing is that the heart be pure, directing its focus for the sake of Heaven, that in his heart he is a servant of Hashem. On the other hand, a heart that does not place its trust in Hashem and trusts in man is compared to rejected silver whose dross is abundant, which the refiner casts aside. A heart that relies not on the Holy One, blessed be He, but on human beings - as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, refined it and found within it abundant dross and refuse. And who possesses the good, pure, and clean heart? One who trusts in Hashem and does not rely on human beings.
The Vilna Gaon: Silver - Mitzvot, Gold - Torah
The Vilna Gaon explains: How is silver tested? By the refining pot. And the testing of gold is through the crucible. But Hashem is the tester of hearts, and no human being can perceive this. Yet, as is his way, the Vilna Gaon brings these concepts down into the realm of practice: silver alludes to the mitzvot, and gold alludes to the Torah, for the stature of Torah is greater than that of the mitzvot. While it is true that we engage in Torah study in order to fulfill His commandments, the engagement in Torah in its own right - even without the practical performance of an action - is a mitzvah in itself. After all, we study the laws of animal sacrifices (zevachim) - are we currently fulfilling the sacrifices in practice? We study the law of a wayward and rebellious son (ben sorer u'moreh), which according to the Talmud never occurred and never will occur. Yet despite all this, the very engagement in Torah for its own sake possesses immense and tremendous merit, even if it does not lead to the practical fulfillment of an action.
All of these have a refining pot and a crucible: a person can examine whether a mitzvah was performed properly, and whether one's Torah study is sound. A person puts on tefillin - were they placed in the correct location? Are they precisely 'as frontlets between your eyes' and 'as a sign upon your hand'? One put up a mezuzah - was it mounted in the right spot? Was it written in the proper script? The mitzvot can be evaluated; one can inspect them and tell someone, 'You did well,' or 'You did not do well.'
The heart, however, cannot be evaluated. Torah can be tested, mitzvot can be tested - but the heart cannot. How much heart did one invest in it? How much pure intention for the sake of Heaven? How much yearning to bring pleasure to one's Maker and fulfill the will of the Creator? This, no human being can know; only Hashem tests the hearts, as it says, 'Man looks at outward appearances, but Hashem looks into the heart.' One can check if a mezuzah is strictly kosher to the highest standard, but assessing how much devotion for the sake of Heaven someone had while affixing it, or how much holy contemplation accompanied the donning of tefillin - that belongs solely to Hashem, the tester of hearts.
The Malbim: Two Types of Dross in the Heart
The Malbim explains that in order to separate the dross from silver, it requires a refining pot. Gold, which is more precious and to which the dross clings far more tenaciously, requires a crucible - where the fire burns much hotter. Why must the fire be hotter? Because its refinement must be much deeper: there is a greater accumulation of waste and dross, and therefore it requires much more work to purge the dross from it. In the same way, Hashem examines hearts in order to clarify them and purify them of dross.
There is dross in a person's heart that clings like the dross of silver, and there is dross that clings far more tightly, requiring immense effort to tear away and separate from the heart, which is likened to gold. One who sins in distinguishing between good and evil out of physical desire - a silver refining pot is sufficient for him. But one whose failing is not between good and evil, but rather between truth and falsehood - which stems not from lust, but from the intellect - requires far greater refining, like gold.
To elaborate: If a person has destructive desires and bad habits, he can break free of them. There are people who smoked for thirty or forty years, and at a certain point made a decision to conquer the desire and left it behind. This is physical desire; it belongs to the realm of good and evil: lusting after forbidden relationships, greed for money, and the like. Through personal effort, a person can detach from this. It takes work - but not an overwhelming amount, just as one refines silver.
On the other hand, there is the person who is 'distorted in intellect,' in the words of the Malbim. The word for iniquity, avon, is related to distortion - a distortion of the intellect. And when someone suffers from a distorted intellect, it is far more difficult to bring him to repentance, as noted previously: one who studied and departed is the most difficult of all. Consider a simple example: it is far easier to bring a completely secular Jew to teshuvah than someone who is 'religious-lite.' Very rarely do you see a 'religious-lite' person become meticulous in mitzvot and God-fearing, whereas a person who was entirely secular and observed nothing, once brought to teshuvah, can be seen scaling spiritual heights. What is the difference? With the secular person, in most cases, it is a matter of desire; at some point, he can decide to cast off the yoke of desire and overcome it - refining the silver, which is easier. But for someone who is 'religious-lite' out of ideology, who says, 'You don't need to do that much,' 'This is plenty,' 'No need to overdo it,' 'Hashem only wants the heart,' 'Someone who is stringent is a donkey,' 'What the Torah forbade is enough for you,' always armed with slogans and adages to justify himself - his trouble is that his very intellect has become warped. It is not merely the body pulling; when the body pulls, one can tug on the reins and manage to control the horse. But when the intellect pulls, when it is already a distortion of the mind and ideology, it is vastly more difficult.
For an iniquity of the intellect, says the Malbim, is of greater consequence than an iniquity of action, and its dross clings much more tenaciously. This is the gold, for which a refining pot does not suffice, requiring instead a crucible where the flame is far more intense.
Connecting the Pesukim: A Wicked Lip and a Destructive Tongue
Here the Malbim links the two pesukim together. What is the 'refining pot for silver'? It corresponds to 'An evildoer hearkens to a wicked lip' - a person who pays heed to a wicked lip, who listens and is drawn after his desires, pulling him from good to evil. The 'lip' (safah) always represents what is external: the mouth expresses the interior, while the lips are what is exposed to the outside. The difference between good and evil is perceived by the senses - one can see that this is bad and see that this is good; it is noticeable. And someone who listens to a wicked lip, meaning he is drawn after external desires, is an 'evildoer' - his path is an evil path.
And who is the one in need of the "crucible for gold"? This is the one who represents "a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue" [sheker mezin al leshon havot]. The former requires the refining pot for silver because he is drawn after desires, and desires need to be refined and separated, which is relatively easy. But "tongue" is always on the level of understanding (binah), which is more internal. When a person corrupts his intellect, this is already an aspect of falsehood, for an intellectual distortion is always between truth and falsehood, whereas a distortion of desire is between good and evil: one lusts to steal, lusts for immorality, lusts after an evil thing. But an intellectual distortion - he chooses falsehood and prefers it over truth. This corruption, where falsehood listens and pays heed to the tongue, swapping truth for lies, already requires a crucible for gold in order to successfully purge it of the heresy and apostasy within it.
Rabbeinu Yonah: Two Categories of Slanderers
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that "an evildoer" [mera] can be interpreted in two ways: either as a noun, like "both of these kings, their hearts are set on evildoing [lemera]," or like "and I am prayer" [meaning a man of prayer]; or as an adjective, like "hypocritical and evildoing [chaneif umera]," meaning a person described as an evildoer. And on the clause "a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue," Rabbeinu Yonah explains that there are two groups of slanderers: the malicious [zeidim] and the liars [shakranim].
The malicious are those with bad hearts and malicious intent, people who act out of malice. They wish to find faults and accusations against people, listening attentively when others speak about them, and readily believing what they hear. For it is the nature of one who desires something to incline his heart to believe it, and all the more so to incline his ear to listen. When someone is ill-natured, the moment he hears something negative about someone, he perks up: "Yes, what did I hear about that fellow? You don't say!" It gives him vitality. He hears juicy gossip, actively seeks it out, goes around from one person to another spreading the news: "Didn't you hear what happened with him? Don't ask how he fell!" Such a person belongs to the group of the malicious, possessing a malicious heart. He looks for flaws in others and takes pleasure in hearing of another's downfall or shortcomings. He is called mezin, related to ma'azin (one who listens) - he listens to a destructive tongue, eagerly lending an ear whenever he hears something negative about someone.
Similarly, for instance, leftists take such pleasure in hearing that some soldier struck a Palestinian - it makes them feel vindicated: "We told you we are villains, we told you we are the problem in this entire Middle East conflict, we told you we are the guilty ones." It gives them satisfaction. And when the world accuses us, or when there is some Goldstone Report or the like against us, it warms their hearts; they will cite and elaborate on the report and show everyone how wrong and negative we are. When someone possesses an ill heart, he relishes finding faults and hearing evil about others.
The second group, says Rabbeinu Yonah, is the category of liars. A person whose way is not the way of truth believes and accepts whatever he is told without investigating. He does not seek to establish the truth of the matter; he does not ask, "Was it really like that? Tell me, what were the exact details?" Whatever he is told, he believes, because he is a person of falsehood who does not strive for truth, and so he does not even care to hear the truth. If they tell him something that suits him, that is enough for him; he has no desire to investigate further, since truth is not a guiding light for him anyway. Thus: "An evildoer pays attention to wicked speech" - a malicious person and slanderer who enjoys hearing faults about others listens to every wicked utterance and every word of reproach. "And a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue" - a man of falsehood listens to and accepts words of ruin, things that are untrue. It is also possible that havot relates to unsubstantiated nonsense, something baseless.
The Proper Balance: Do Not Believe, but Suspect
What, then, is the proper balance? Rabbeinu Yonah explains: If someone hears negative reports about another, he should not be quick to believe, but on the other hand, he should not be quick to dismiss it entirely. That is, if you are told that someone wants to harm you, or that so-and-so is a swindler, or that this tradesman is a thief - believing it is forbidden. But as the Chofetz Chaim notes: lemichesh miha ba'ei - one must be on guard. One should not say, "I do not believe anything; he is a plumber, and I will hire him," for there is a possibility that what was said is true. Therefore, out of caution, I will look for a different plumber. Did I believe the rumor? I did not believe it, but I must take precautions.
This is akin to the principle: "Respect him and suspect him." When you invite someone into your home, it is wise to lock your safe just in case. "What, am I a thief?" No, you are not a thief, you are the leading sage of the generation, but I must be cautious. I do not know you; an ordinary person may appear to be God-fearing, but how can one know? Therefore, one must both respect and suspect. The same applies to lashon hara: when derogatory things are told to you, do not accept them as fact, yet remain vigilant.
And who do we find who failed to suspect and was harmed? Gedaliah ben Achikam. He was told that Yishmael ben Netanyah was seeking to kill him, but he refused to accept it. That man arrived, they shared a meal, and he assassinated him. Gedaliah was thus considered partly culpable for his own death - lemichesh miha ba'ei, you should have taken precautions! Therefore, Rabbeinu Yonah teaches: seeking out faults and readily believing every false rumor is an evil path. What is the right way? If it concerns a matter that calls for caution - be cautious, but do not accept it as truth.
In Summary:
The three verses teach us one foundational principle: true virtue lies neither in pedigree nor in wealth, but in wisdom, effort, and the heart. "A wise servant shall rule over a disgraceful son" - the wise, diligent servant surpasses the disgraceful, lazy son, to the extent that a righteous convert takes precedence over a wicked native-born, and a Torah-scholar mamzer takes precedence over an ignorant High Priest. "A refining pot is for silver and a crucible for gold, but Hashem tests the hearts" - mitzvos and Torah study can be observed and examined, but the heart and inner intention are tested by the Holy One, Blessed be He, alone, and He weighs every fragment of thought and judges a person with absolute justice. Moreover, there is dross like that of silver - desires falling between good and evil, which are relatively easy to cast off; and there is dross like that of gold - intellectual distortion between truth and falsehood, which clings tightly to a person and requires the intense heat of a crucible. From here we must beware of both factions: the malicious who seek faults in others, and the liars who believe everything without seeking the truth. The proper path: never believe lashon hara, but do not dismiss danger either - lemichesh miha ba'ei, one must exercise caution.